Salvian, a Christian priest wrote in about 440 CE a book titled Of God's

Government. He wanted to show that the misfortunes of the time were only
Gods punishments, which the people of the Empire had brought upon
themselves by their wickedness and corruption. He says that the Romans,
who had once been virtuous and heroic, had recently become far inferior to
the untutored but sturdy barbarian
In what respects can our customs be preferred to those of the Goths and
Vandals1, or even compared with them? And first, to speak of affection and
mutual charity (which, our Lord teaches, is the chief virtue, saying, "By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another
"), almost all barbarians, at least those who are of one race and kin, love
each other, while the Romans persecute each other. For what citizen does
not envy his fellow citizen? What citizen shows to his neighbor full charity?
It would be quite tolerable, if each suffered what he inflicted. It is worse
than that; for the many are oppressed by the few, who regard public
exactions2 as their own peculiar right, who carry on private traffic under tile
guise of collecting the taxes. And this is done not only by nobles, but by men
of lowest rank; not by judges only, but by judges' subordinates. For where is
the city, or even the town or village which has not as many tyrants as it has
curials3? . . .
None but the great is secure from the devastations of these plundering
brigands, except those who are themselves robbers.
[Nay, the state has fallen upon such evil days that a man cannot be safe
unless he is wicked] Even those in a position to protest against the iniquity 4
which they see about them dare not speak lest they make matters worse
than before. So the poor are despoiled, the widows sigh, the orphans are
oppressed, until many of them, born of families not obscure, and liberally
educated, flee to our enemies that they may no longer suffer the oppression
of public persecution. They doubtless seek Roman humanity among the
barbarians, because they cannot bear barbarian inhumanity among the
Romans. And although they differ from the people to whom they flee in
manner and in language; although they are unlike as regards the fetid5 odor
of the barbarians' bodies and garments, yet they would rather endure a
1 Names of two barbarian tribes
2 Punishments
3 Local court
4 Great evil

foreign civilization among the barbarians than cruel injustice among the
Romans.
So they migrate to the Goths, or to the Bagaudes, or to some other tribe of
the barbarians who are ruling everywhere, and do not regret their exile. For
they would rather live free under an appearance of slavery than live as
captives under an appearance of liberty. The name of Roman citizen, once
so highly esteemed and so dearly bought, is now a thing that men
repudiate6 and flee from. . . .
It is urged that if we Romans are wicked and corrupt, that the barbarians
commit the same sins, and are not so miserable as we. There is, however,
this difference, that the barbarians commit the same crimes as we, yet we
more grievously. . . . All the barbarians, as we have already said, are pagans
or heretics7. The Saxon race is cruel, the Franks are faithless, the Gepidae
are inhuman, the Huns are unchaste, in short, there is vice in the life of all
the barbarian peoples. But are their offenses as serious as ours? Is the
unchastity of the Hun so criminal as ours? Is the faithlessness of the Frank
so blameworthy as ours? Is the intemperance8 of the Alemanni so base as
the intemperance of the Christians? Does the greed of the Alani so merit
condemnation as the greed of the Christians? If Hun or the Gepid cheat,
what is there to wonder at, since he does not know that cheating is a crime?
If a Frank lies, does he do anything strange, he who regards lying as a way
of speaking, not as a crime?
James Harvey Robinson, ed., Readings in European History: Vol. I: (Boston::
Ginn and co., 1904), 28-30

5 Smelling extremely unpleasant

6 Refuse to be associated with
7 Someone whose actions go against a certain religion (in this case, Christianity)
8 Lack of restrain (often refers to heavy drinking)